Kiernan Shipka: Pamela Anderson’s Performance in ‘The Last Showgirl’ ‘Changed Me’ as an Actor
Kiernan Shipka knows “The Last Showgirl” brings the first of many flowers for formerly overlooked Hollywood icon Pamela Anderson.
Shipka, who co-stars in the acclaimed indie feature, told IndieWire while promoting Jordan Weiss’ directorial debut rom-com “Sweethearts” that Anderson’s performance in “The Last Showgirl” “changed” her as an actress.
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“Pamela Anderson is so incredible and wonderful in this film, and just I can’t wait for everyone to see her,” Shipka said. “It’s really a performance that changed me as a performer, and I’m just really lucky to be a part of it.”
Shipka added that her fellow showgirls Brenda Song and Jamie Lee Curtis are also “amazing” onscreen.
“The Last Showgirl” stars Anderson as Shelly, an aging Las Vegas dancer who finds herself at an unexpected crossroads when the show that has employed her for three decades suddenly closes. Shipka, Song, and Curtis are her fellow dancers. Dave Bautista and Billie Lourd round out the cast.
“The Last Showgirl” is written by Kate Gersten and directed by Gia Coppola, who credited 2023 documentary “Pamela, A Love Story” for inspiring her to cast Anderson.
“I just could see so many parallels of Shelly, but also I could see this artist that was so creative and so knowledgeable of art and philosophy and just the way she approached life,” Coppola said during a post-screening Q&A in New York City. “And how vulnerable she was, not really wearing makeup in the documentary, so I could see that this was a person who was fearless. I just really wanted to collaborate with her. I could see her hunger to kind of express her talents in a dramatic way.”
“The Last Showgirl” premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, with IndieWire’s Kate Erbland writing that the film is “both the role of a lifetime for Anderson, one that can fully capture her incredible emotional intensity and vulnerability, and (we can only hope) the start of a brand new career for her.”
Meanwhile, “The Last Showgirl” star Shipka has had a monumental 2024, with roles in viral horror feature “Longlegs” and holiday action film “Red One,” along with rom-com “Sweethearts.”
“I love comedy and I always have, but I guess I’m more of a drama horror girly in the realm of association,” Shipka said to IndieWire. “But I genuinely love comedy so much, and the second that I read the script for ‘Sweethearts,’ it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I want to do a rom-com!’.”
Shipka additionally teased that her 2025 release “Stone Cold Fox” is also a buzzy project.
“I’m very excited for people to see that as well,” the “Mad Men” alum said of the ’80s-inspired revenge thriller film that co-stars Krysten Ritter, Kiefer Sutherland, Jamie Chung, and Karen Fukuhara. “It’s really, really fun. It’s like comedy-action and I love both of those things.”
“The Last Showgirl” will premiere in theaters nationwide on January 10 following a one week Oscar-qualifying run in Los Angeles in December from Roadside Attractions.
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